Building a Better Biosensor | BBa_K4431002
Our team has worked to improve a biosensor that was originally theorized by the 2020 DeNovocastrians iGEM team. The biosensor utilises the expression two fluorescent proteins, mCherry and fuGFP to detect the presence of either catechol or benzene, respectively. In 2020 the DeNovocastrians were able to construct a biosensor that would express fuGFP in the presence of benzene.
This year we were able to build on this to construct the portion of the biosensor that expresses mCherry in the presence of catechol. As such, the biosensor is now able to detect the initial presence of benzene, which is indicated by fuGFP expression and additionally, it’s degradation into catechol, which is indicated by mCherry expression. This work demonstrates our teams work to improve the function of an existing iGEM part as a portion of our overall project.
